THE ACOUSTIC STARTLE RESPONSE IN HIGH- AND LOW-HOSTILES AS A FUNCTION OF PAIN-STRESS
Journal Title: Acta Neuropsychologica - Year 2015, Vol 13, Issue 1
Abstract
Background: Highly hostile individuals exhibit exaggerated physiological responses to stressors that are associated with cardiovascular disease and premature death. Evidence that high-hostiles have altered right hemispheric functioning has lead to a right hemisphere model of hostility. The Acoustic Startle Response (ASR) has been used to examine individual differences in emotional state and trait and can be potentiated by aversive stimuli. In this experiment, we hypothesized that high-hostiles would have larger ASRs when compared to low-hostiles, and would experience ASR potentiation follow-ing a cold pressor (CP).Material/Methods: Forty high- and low-hostile undergraduate men heard acoustic startle probes before and after a CP. ASRs were measured using electromyography (EMG) of the orbicularis occuli. A 2 X 2 mixed factorial ANOVA was conducted with Group (high- and low-hostile) as the between-subjects factor, Condition (pre- and post-CP) as the within-subjects factor, and EMG magnitude (mV) of the ASR as the dependent variable.Results: A significant Group main effect indicated larger ASRs in high-hostiles. A significant Group X Condition interaction was found. There were no significant group differences before the CP, but low-hostiles’ ASR decreased significantly after the CP, while high-hostiles’ ASR did not change significantly.Conclusions: High-hostiles’ ASR failed to habituate, indicating a fixed and exaggerated physiological response to stressors on the reflex level. Low levels of hostility may be associated with a more flexible and reduced physiological response to stressors.
Authors and Affiliations
Philip Klineburger, David Harrison
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP77284
- DOI -
- Views 112
- Downloads 0
AGGRESSION IN PROFESSIONAL FEMALE DEFENDER SOCCER PLAYERS
The goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of competition on brain activity representing aggression. Quantitative electroencephalograms (QEEGs) of Thai professional female soccer team players were analyz...
Organization and functioning of the system of logopedic care in Poland
This article deals with the problem of providing logopedic care (speech therapy) in Poland. Disturbances of speech, which occur in ca. 20% of the population of early school-age children, is a serious social problem in th...
Lexical-semantic priming and dementia<br />
Alzheimer’s disease is marked by loss of semantic memory. The neuropsychological experimental task known as priming (wherein recognition or recall is enhanced by prior exposure) is a pure measure of semantic memory. The...
TIME AND PROCESS IN NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
Temporal order in perception and memory has been conceived as realized within a mind/brain state or over a succession of states. Serial order might involve a concatenation of states with a blurring of the boundaries betw...
SCALE OF AUDITORY BEHAVIORS: NORMATIVE REFERENCE VALUES FOR HEALTHY ARGENTINIAN CHILDREN
[b]Background: [/b]A comprehensive assessment of central auditory processing disorders includes parent questionnaires. The Scale of Auditory Behaviors (SAB) was developed to evaluate the limitations and difficulties perc...